[Video] Follow-Up: Final Calls Included 'We're Out of Time'; High School Near Florida Learjet Crash Site to Close Monday
New details emerged Sunday evening, November 1, in the crash of a Learjet 60 near Greenacres in Palm Beach County, Florida. According to the Palm Beach Post and the New York Post, which reviewed the air traffic control recording, the crew reported in their final transmissions that the jet was descending through 22,000 feet and banking 60 degrees, and said, "We're out of time." The Palm Beach County School District announced Sunday night that John I. Leonard High School, about half a mile from the crash site, will be closed on Monday. All nine people on board were killed, and officials have not released their names.
The radio exchanges were captured by LiveATC.net. Excerpts published earlier by The Associated Press showed the pilot first reporting light, clear ice that was manageable, along with moderate turbulence, then issuing mayday calls reporting a descent of 10,000 feet per minute and then 20,000 feet per minute in an overspeed condition, before saying, "We're going to crash into the ground," as reported earlier by this site. Flight-tracking data showed the jet's descent rate at one point exceeded 32,000 feet per minute. Several U.S. outlets, based on the voice of the crew member speaking with controllers on the recording, described the speaker as a female pilot; however, as of Sunday evening, neither the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office (PBSO) nor the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had released the names of those on board, and the crew's identities have not been officially confirmed.
Shortly after the crash, dashcam footage of the jet's final plunge, recorded by a camera in a nearby vehicle, spread widely on the social platform X: the jet drops almost vertically toward the roadway at high speed and bursts into a fireball on impact, sending up a column of black smoke. The footage was shot by a witness and circulated on social media; it is not official material. The post is embedded below via X's official embed:
https://x.com/Turbinetraveler/status/2116983350518841751
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Palm Beach County officials said at a news conference Sunday evening that there were still no reports of anyone on the ground being killed or injured. The jet left a large crater by the side of the road, with debris spread over a wide area. Military Trail remains closed in both directions between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North, and a county official warned the closure could be lengthy. The Palm Beach County School District announced at 8 p.m. Sunday that John I. Leonard High School, about half a mile from the site with about 2,800 students, will be closed on Monday, November 2, while other schools are expected to open as usual.
At the news conference, DeSantis said watching video of the jet’s fall was "a jarring thing," describing "a massive explosion, debris going everywhere." He said it was "really a tragic way to see people pass away" and that "we should offer our thoughts and prayers to their family." He added that from the way the jet descended, "you can make the inference that something happened in the air that was a big problem." DeSantis and the county officials at the briefing each praised the first responders who rushed to the scene.
County Administrator Joe Abruzzo said at the briefing that the county would submit an emergency declaration to the governor to help deal with the aftermath. County Commissioner Joel Flores said the roughly 600 evacuated residents would be moved to one of two county shelters, with shelter and food ensured for Sunday night, and he estimated that Military Trail’s southbound lanes were unlikely to reopen within 30 days.
NTSB investigators are arriving at the site on Sunday and Monday, with a media briefing scheduled for Monday in West Palm Beach. No timetable has been given for identifying the victims and releasing their names. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
At the federal level, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on X at 2:52 p.m. ET on Sunday, calling the crash a "horrific tragedy" and laying out what was known: the Learjet 60 crashed in a neighborhood near Cresthaven at 12:50 p.m. ET; all nine people on board were killed; the aircraft had departed Austin, Texas, and was headed to the Bahamas; and the FAA was sending a team to the scene to support the NTSB investigation (points this site quoted in its first report). Duffy asked the public to join him in praying for the families and loved ones of those lost, and said the FAA and the U.S. Department of Transportation were closely monitoring the crash and would share updates as they learned more.
Related: Learjet 60 Crashes Into Florida Residential Area, Killing All 9 Aboard
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 佛罗里达州州长Ron DeSantis在棕榈滩县坠机现场附近的记者会上向媒体讲话，县官员在旁（11月1日晚；记者会照片，非坠机现场图）。棕榈滩县警长办公室发布。 / Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to the media at a news conference near the Palm Beach County crash site on the evening of Nov. 1, with county officials beside him (news conference photo, not the crash scene). Photo: Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
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- 2026-11-01[Video] Follow-Up: Final Calls Included 'We're Out of Time'; High School Near Florida Learjet Crash Site to Close MondayThis story
